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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728010">But Not Too Familiar</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707'>Weevilo707</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Reaper Barry - Freeform, Reclaimer Lup, Roleswap</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:27:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728010</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All Lup wanted to do after getting back from Refuge was collapse onto her bed and sleep for a week. Of course she couldn't be so lucky though, an incredibly dorky grim reaper already waiting for her on her couch to discuss all those extra deaths her and the boys had raked up. She should probably be more annoyed by the disturbance than she actually was. </p>
<p>Barry was a surprisingly fun guy though, even with the whole trying to kill her thing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barry Bluejeans/Lup</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>But Not Too Familiar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lup felt fucking exhausted as she entered their dorm room, shrugging her cloak of the phoenix off her shoulders and putting it up on the hook. “Someday you’ll be useful old friend,” she said, patting the fabric as she tried to bite back a yawn.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their time away from the base hadn’t actually been all that long, but with all the resets and dying she was fucking beat. Every death left her with a worse and worse headache, so by the time round eleven rolled around she had been near about at her wits end. The deaths didn’t seem to affect Magnus and Merle quite as badly, but no one was doing well by the time they finally got the loops to stop and saved Refuge.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All Lup wanted to do was pass the fuck out and forget this day had ever happened, so of course that wasn’t what she got.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” she said, pausing when she turned and saw the man sitting on their couch. Despite the feathered black robe and clean suit he managed to look kind of awkward, quickly getting up off the couch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry for the late visit, but it looks like we’re gonna have to talk. Not a great job done there on keeping up your end of the deal,” the grim reaper said, and Lup leaned on her umbrastaff some, trying to give a confident, casual smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, shit went all kinds of pear shaped,” she said, and Barry nodded sharply at that. It still amused her, the grim reaper’s name was something as plain and common as </span>
  <em>
    <span>Barry.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Really, everything about him was pretty damn average, at least appearance wise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She figured there must be something otherworldly about him though, even if she couldn’t put words to it. That was certainly the best explanation about why she found him so fascinating, even with the whole trying to kill her the last time they met. Thankfully he didn’t seem too murder happy right now, gesturing towards the couch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In that case, why don’t we uh, have a little chat and see what we can get sorted out,” he said, sitting back down. Lup grinned, going and flopping down on the couch a little bit closer to him than was strictly necessary. He was a surprisingly easy to fluster guy, and it wouldn’t hurt to throw him off his rhythm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure thing, what do you wanna know Reaper Man?” she asked, her grin getting a little bit wider at the embarrassment clear on his face. It was pretty obvious he was trying not to stare at her, which only made the whole thing funnier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well uh, to start with you died another eleven times today, so maybe something on that? Not to mention the entire </span>
  <em>
    <span>town</span>
  </em>
  <span> of people that now has death counts in the thousands, I’ve never seen anything like this before. Also, just while we’re at it, we’re on the moon Lup, why are we on the moon?” Barry asked, and right, they hadn’t given the reaper the full story last time, just the cliffnotes version.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, so which do you want to tackle first, the dying or the moon?” she asked, and Barry actually seemed to take a moment to think the question over. It was cute. He was cute.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lup told herself she was extremely tired, those thoughts were probably nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, dying. That’s the more important thing. Do you remember being a l̸̞̆̋i̴̦̺̔c̶̟͒̽h̸̏ͅ yet?” he asked, and Lup frowned. That thing had happened the last time they met, when he had angrily listed off all of their crimes. She had no idea what he had said, his words turning to static.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t say I do, still can’t understand you either,” she said, and Barry sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ya know, that makes this whole thing really complicated, if you can’t even understand the severity of the rules you broke,” he said, and the curiosity on what she couldn’t understand was killing Lup.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Trust me bud, I’d love to know too. We’re just gonna have to work with what we’ve got,” she said, and Barry seemed to pause some at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that something you’d be willing to do?” he asked after a long moment. Lup cocked her head to the side, and maybe she was too tired to get what he was asking, but she couldn’t be blamed for that one, not after the day she had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you be willing to work with us? With me? I don’t think you’re a bad person Lup, but to say you’ve broken the Laws of the Raven Queen doesn’t even- it doesn’t come close to covering it. You’re also the most fascinating person I’ve ever met though, and I’ve been around for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>long</span>
  </em>
  <span> time. So if you’re willing to cooperate with us, well, I can’t promise anything, but I can definitely put a good word in with the Raven Queen,” he said, a surprising amount of earnestness in his voice. It actually left Lup a bit speechless before a grin started to stretch across her face, and she hoped it distracted from the blush she could definitely feel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, alright babe, you got yourself a deal,” she said, and at least if he </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>notice her blush, he was certainly no better now. She didn’t even know the dead </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> blush.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, that’s- awesome, yeah,” he stuttered out, and yeah, Lup was going to enjoy this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t get to talk for as long as she would have liked however. She had been exhausted when she got home, but despite that talking with Barry was surprisingly easy. She explained the deal with the bureau and the relics, as well as everything that had been going on in Refuge. The way the chalice had brought them back to life over and over again, along with all of the citizens of the small town as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Barry wasn’t trying to kill them, he was actually a fun person to talk to. Obviously dorky as fuck, and as he loosened up Lup found herself laughing at his little quips and jokes a lot more than she expected to. He was also incredibly intelligent, and as much as she loved Magnus and Merle, it was nice having someone who could not only meet her at her level when she started talking magic and theories, but seemed almost as passionate as she was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn’t take long for Lup to forget how tired she was. She was more than a bit disappointed when Barry sat up suddenly, cutting off their discussion. Of course, they had gotten a little sidetracked from discussing their death counts to trying to figure out how in the world the chalice was actually able to go through their lives and project their memories the way it had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit, how long has it been?” he asked, quickly standing up. Lup shrugged, stretching out to lay out fully on the couch as she yawned. The side where he’d been sitting was still cold, another little reminder that the dork she was talking to was actually the grim reaper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I dunno, couple hours maybe? You got somewhere to be?” she asked, and Barry nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, well uh, now I do. Just got a call from the Raven Queen for another bounty, sorry. We’ll have to finish up this conversation another time,” he said, and these were bad ideas Lup was having. That didn’t mean she was going to try to stop them at all though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s fine, I should probably get some sleep anyway, and you should get out of here before Magnus or Merle come back. I don’t think they’ll be too thrilled to see you right now,” she said, and Barry winced at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, I was uh, pretty relieved to be able to get you alone, actually,” he said, and Lup’s grin widened at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>were</span>
  </em>
  <span> you?” she asked, very much enjoying the reaper’s stuttered embarrassment. Before he could manage to form proper words she held out a hand. “You got a stone of farspeech?” she asked instead. Barry seemed to appreciate the merciful change of pace, quickly nodding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For sure,” he said, summoning a small smooth stone out of a pocket dimension before tossing it to Lup. She pulled her own out of her robe pocket, attuning the two before tossing the reaper his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll call you,” she said, giving him a wink for good measure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” Barry squeaked out, which was too fucking cute to be fair. The only reason Lup was able to keep her composure was because of how terribly the reaper was at keeping his. He stared at her for another moment before jolting again, Lup could imagine another call coming through from the Raven Queen reminding him that he had places to be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I need to- uh, catch you later Lup,” he said, and she nodded, watching as he summoned up his scythe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Later babe,” she said, delighting in frazzling him one last time before he managed to jump through the portal he created. Once it closed behind him she was left alone in the dorm room. She should probably be concerned that Magnus and Merle weren’t back yet, but after everything that had happened all she could do was let out a long sigh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, this wasn’t good.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She definitely had a crush on the grim reaper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking dork.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At first she tried to ignore it. She figured that Barry would call her whenever he was free to set up a time to talk about what they were gonna do with the new deaths and Refuge. They had gotten so distracted before that they didn’t actually reach a solid conclusion on that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except then a week passed, and time on the moon was surprisingly boring between missions. It was hard to think about anything else, and it was only a matter of time before others started to notice. She was pretty sure Angus was already suspicious, the kid was too sharp for his own good.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, she reached the end of her patience. After maybe an hour of debating, she finally gave in, pulling out her stone and attuning it to Barry’s frequency.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Barold, you busy?” she asked, trying to sound casual. It definitely wasn’t a good sign that she needed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>try.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lup? Yeah, I’m- shit, uh, give me a minute,” he said, and it was hard to tell what was happening on the other side of the stone. She could definitely hear some strange, muffled sounds though, and she nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s cool, take your time,” she assured. There were about another minute where Lup stood there, listening to what she could only assume were the sounds of some sort of scuffle. Finally there was a short, pained yelp, and she could hear Barry again, panting slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, sorry about that. What’s up?” he asked, and Lup had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Barry, did you answer your stone in the middle of reaping some fools?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, they were just some low level cultists. They didn’t even draw their summoning circle right,” he said, so dismissive Lup couldn’t help but snort. It was better to laugh than to admit that was actually kind of hot. “Anyway, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” he asked, and she quickly nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah no, we’re all good here. I was just wondering when you wanted to finish our conversation. It’s been a week, was starting to worry you forgot about me,” she said, maybe teasing a little bit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I imagine it would take a lot more than a week to get anyone to forget someone like you,” Barry muttered, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> definitely wasn’t fair. She was glad she was in her room and on the stone, so that no one could see the way her face heated up at that. “But yeah, sorry, there’s not actually a bounty out for any of you now, so it wasn’t super urgent. I’d be free uh, tomorrow evening though, unless some emergency came up, if you want to finish it then,” he offered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds like a date. There’s a new spot that just opened up on the moon I’ve been meaning to try out. Why don’t you meet me at the Chug and Squeeze tomorrow at say, seven o’clock?” she offered, telling herself to just barrel on through. Never knew what was gonna happen unless she went for it after all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“O-okay. Did you say Chug and Squeeze?” Barry asked, but Lup didn’t bother answering that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“See ya then,” she said, quickly hanging up the call, maybe feeling a little giddy as she did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She just made a date with death. And she was pretty sure death was into it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When it started to get around the time to meet up with Barry the next day though Lup couldn’t help but be nervous. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on a proper date, and maybe this wasn’t one of those. They were supposed to be talking about the fate of a whole small town after all. She certainly wouldn’t mind it being a date, and she knew it had been even longer since she’d been into a guy like this. She couldn’t be 100% certain, but she was still pretty damn sure that Barry was into it too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Looking at herself in the mirror, she figured this was good enough. She was wearing a sleeveless black button up top with a high collar and a long red skirt. Nice date clothes, but nothing too over the top enough that she couldn’t do pottery in it. She got to the Chug and Squeeze a few minutes early, which turned out to be a good move because Barry showed up on the dot. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had been waiting by a clock to create a portal outside of the place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even though she was fairly certain she was picking up all the signals correctly, she was still worried that she had misjudged everything. When she saw the Reaper though, he didn’t look dressed for an official business meeting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, instead he was dressed casually, wearing slightly faded blue jeans and a white button up, the sleeves already rolled up to his elbows. The only sign that he was in any way associated with the goddess of death was a small black feather pin on his collar. None of it was what she was expecting in the slightest. He looked like a </span>
  <em>
    <span>dad.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She should </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> be as into this as she was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Casual Friday at the office?” she asked as he came over to the spot next to her. He immediately looked awkward as he sat down behind the wheel, barely managing not to knock over the glass of wine Lup had set up for him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No that’s not- not really. It uh, feels awkward wearing the cloak and all when I’m not on the job, I hope it’s okay?” he asked, and Lup quickly nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s all good my dude,” she assured him, waving a guy over to order some more wine. Barry definitely looked a little lost as he started trying to shape the wet ball of clay into something, Lup couldn’t tell what yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So this is uh, well probably about what I should have expected from a place called the Chug and Squeeze. Not the ya know, typical scene for most of my work if I’m being blunt,” Barry said, and Lup had figured that. Before she could make any sort of clever quip he continued. “I’ve already talked to the Raven Queen, like I said I don’t have any active bounties out for any of you right now. I’m just… honestly, I’m just here to try to figure out what makes you all so </span>
  <em>
    <span>special,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he said. The thing was, Lup knew that he meant that in a sort of, existential coming back from the dead repeatedly way, so there wasn’t any need for her to feel flustered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t know if I can give you an answer on the why there, Barold,” Lup said after a moment, shaping the clay up higher, into the vague form of a vase. “We’re just doing what we can, ya know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, but why?” Barry asked back, taking Lup off guard a little. She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow in question, so he continued. “Lup, you’ve died a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It’s not exactly good health practice to be on the grim reaper’s radar so much, so like, why are you doing this?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lup was quiet for a long time, and it wasn’t like this was the first time she’d thought about this question. It was the first time someone else had asked her though, and she found herself struggling to put it into words for a long moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she said finally, earning a questioning look from Barry. “I’ve never had a place to call home before. The closest was my cooking show, and that thing went up in flames. Literally! I guess it’s just… it’s nice, having a place where I can feel like I really belong. If I gotta put my ass on the line sometimes to protect it, then so be it, ya know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I think I do,” Barry said quietly, surprising Lup. “It’s not like I had much before joining the Raven Queen either. If we're being blunt here, I wasted my life. I don’t get the peace of a proper afterlife like this, but it’s nice, knowing I’m doing something that matters,” he said. Lup nodded in agreement, having to look back down at her clay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anyway!” Barry added quickly, a definite flustered tone to his voice. “I uh, I think I got you all covered, as far as this last batch of deaths go. The whole Refuge town will be safe, we’re not about punishing victims. Just uh, for reference, how much more dying do you think is gonna be happening here?” he asked, and Lup hummed thoughtfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Permanent dying, or temporary dying?” she asked, getting a sigh from Barry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Any dying,” he said, and Lup shrugged at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, there’s gonna be some,” she said, giving Barry a smile before turning back towards her vase. “But I think that if this whole clusterfuck wasn’t a deal breaker, anything else might as well be water under the bridge,” she finished. Barry actually chuckled a bit at that, shaking his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s fair enough,” he said, looking down at the still unidentifiable lump of clay in front of him. “Well uh, I’m free for the rest of the evening, if you want to finish this class,” he added, and Lup couldn’t help smiling at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that sounds like a plan babe,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was honestly kind of stupid how easily Lup clicked with this guy. He was a total dork, but she knew she was too. They ended up spending a longer time than was polite at the chug and squeeze, and they definitely drank more wine than the usual clients tended to, but Lup didn’t really care. She was having fun, and her crush was only getting worse and she found it hard to be annoyed by that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was getting late by the time they finally left the shop, Lup carrying her vase and Barry carrying a rather lopsided bowl.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never was the most artsy guy, I’ll admit,” he said, looking over the pitiful thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, it’ll hold a couple of oranges and other assorted fruit, that’s the most important thing,” Lup tried to assure him. Barry smiled slightly at that, shrugging as he nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not wrong there,” he said, and there wasn’t really anywhere for them to go now. They were just sort of wandering around the campus, Lup not wanting to bring this night to an end quite yet. Barry sighed then, a sudden dower tone to his whole everything. “Lup, can I ask you something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shoot,” she said with a nod. He seemed nervous for a moment, before taking a deep breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was the point of all this?” he asked. She blinked at that, taking a moment to comprehend the question and come up with an answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, we needed to talk about Refuge and everything, didn’t we?” she asked. Barry shook his head though, so she probably wasn’t on the right tract.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I mean, yes, we did have to do that, but we could have just done it in your dorm room. And we stopped talking about that hours ago. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy tonight, because I did! But uh, why?” he asked. It was real hard for Lup to keep her face from being completely overtaken by a blush at that. Even if she was able to control her expression she was sure her ears were giving her embarrassment away, even as she tried to shrug as casually as possible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, figured it didn’t hurt to shoot my shot for a date with a cute undead boy, right?” she said, because she’d already come this far, which was so much farther than she ever expected, might as well go all the way. It certainly didn’t hurt to see Barry’s face turn bright fucking red at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Oh,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he squeaked out, and for a second Lup was afraid he might actually break the shoddy bowl he still had in his hands. “Shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The slight giddy hopefulness that had been in Lup died pretty quick at that, but she tried her best not to show it. She was pretty sure it was obvious, her shoulders slagging the slightest bit, her ears drooping down despite her best attempts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re not into it though that’s- it’s fine. Doesn’t hurt to try, ya know?” she said, trying her best to keep it casual. She was a little surprised when Barry shook his head, still looking like a goddamn cherry tomato. It was ridiculous, she was pretty sure his body was a construct, it didn’t even have blood, the dork.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no that’s not- I’m definitely, definitely interested,” he said, and Lup raised her eyebrows at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh? Then what’s the problem?” she asked, definitely feeling that giddiness starting to return.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, death criminal?" he said, like it was obvious. Which, in retrospect, it probably should have been. "Very, very big death criminal. I mean, your bounty is on pause, but you’re still a… that thing you can’t remember,” he finished, and right. Lup might have forgotten about that, but to be fair she still wasn’t too sure what he was talking about, and it didn’t seem to bother him most of the time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’re saying we’re gonna have to do a whole Romeo and Juliet thing? Secret forbidden lovers keeping our torrid affair from the watchful eyes of your bird Queen mom?” she asked, her smile getting wider and wider the more embarrassed Barry got.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, that is not what I’m saying at all!” he argued, and Lup slumped right up against him now, emboldened by the fact that he admitted being totally into her, and all the wine she drank earlier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cause you know, I wouldn’t hate that,” she said, laughing when a robe actually materialized around the reaper’s shoulders just so he could pull the hood up and over his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe this,” Barry muttered, and despite his words he didn’t actually sound upset in the slightest. Lup was actually giggling now. She’d definitely had a little too much to drink, but she couldn’t complain either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took her a second to notice the way Barry had frozen up though, not really registering it until he pulled away from her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, there’s something- I feel something,” he said, his form starting to shift into full reaper mode.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m right there with you babe,” she said, and she had been pretty damn sure that wasn’t what Barry meant, but it was still nice to see him all flustered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, that’s not- I mean yes that too, but something else,” he clarified, quickly looking around. It was kind of hard to tell what exactly he was feeling, since his face was currently a skull, but he seemed a little confused. “It’s necromantic, and powerful, and I- damn it, I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. It gets too lost in your own energy,” he added. Lup cocked her head to the side at that, mildly confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mine?” she asked, and Barry nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, you’re super fuckin powerful gets a little disorienting being so close to you to be honest,” he said, and that was certainly something Lup was going to have to keep in mind. As it was though she stayed where she was as Barry started to wander a bit of a ways off. “I’m gonna try to see if I can get a better read on it with some distance,” he explained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds good,” she called over to him, taking a moment to watch as he moved about the quad, not so much walking as he was gliding. She was maybe a little distracted, so it took a second before she realized the umbrastaff had started to raise up from where she’d had it hooked around her wrist. Now that she saw it though, it was easy to identify that there was a not so friendly spell being charged up at the end of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lup grabbed the staff without thinking, pointing it up in the air to keep it from attacking Barry. The reaper spun around at the sound of the explosion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What just happened?” he asked, and Lup held up the umbrastaff.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My umbrella’s trying to kick your ass,” she said. Barry’s head cocked to the side, which was honestly kind of adorable, and he started floating back over to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” he asked, and Lup shrugged, holding up the now seemingly dormant spell focus.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My staff started moving on its own, it kinda does that sometimes, and tried to attack you,” she explained. Barry was looking over the staff carefully, not quite touching it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s- huh. That’s weird, this definitely doesn’t feel like a cursed item, or anything like that,” he said, pulling back from the umbrella slightly. “Sorry, I should try and figure out what’s causing this energy, and it’s too muddled up being near you,” he added, and Lup nodded quickly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s chill! Go do your reaper thing,” she assured. Barry paused though, seeming hesitant to actually leave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is um, is this something you would want to do again? Not the negotiating for your life part, the uh, other stuff,” he asked, and Lup grinned as she pretended to think it over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I think I would be pretty down for that,” she said, and Barry only had a skull for a face currently, but Lup was pretty sure she could still hear the smile in his voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice. That’s uh, that’s awesome. I guess I’ll be seeing you around then?” he asked, and Lup nodded at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As long as your bird mama doesn’t get too mad about you dating a criminal,” she said with a wink, and Barry did end up wincing slightly at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She won’t- don’t worry about it. Later Lup,” he said, giving her a wave as he swung his scythe, cutting open a large portal back to the astral plane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Later Barry,” she said, waving back as the portal closed up behind him. Then she was left alone on the quad of the bureau, a stupid, goofy grin on her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a moment in her giddiness where she wanted to rush back to the dorm to tell… she wasn’t sure who, but to tell someone about her date. She’d think Magnus and Merle, but neither of them liked Barry all that much, so she was gonna keep it on the down low for the time being.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, she looked at the umbrastaff, holding it up as she started back towards the dorm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you believe it? I am the ultimate goth, dating the grim reaper. Not to mention he’s got an ass that won’t quit in those dad jeans,” she said. “Youch!” she yelped, a spark coming off her staff and shocking her hand. Not enough to make her drop it, but enough for her to frown heavily at the umbrella. “Whatever, be like that. Can’t ruin my good mood that easily,” she said. It was true too, she was in a damn good mood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She might actually be in love. It honestly happened so much faster than she would have ever expected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But she certainly wasn’t going to complain.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i love me some roleswaps, so I might be adding onto this and putting up a bunch of different oneshots just in this universe, but we'll see. </p>
<p>as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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